On This Day in Tech History

The US Census Bureau receives the first UNIVAC I computer, the first commercial computer to attract widespread public attention. Although the Census Bureau began using it at the end of March it was not actually moved to the Census Bureau until a few months later. The UNIVAC was capable of completing 1,905 operations per second, which it stored on magnetic tape. The Census Bureau had helped drive the development of devices that eventually led to computers, beginning with Herman Hollerith's 1890 punch card machine.